I’ve lived under six rulers of Qatar & learned a lot from them: Sheikh Faisal

Published: 19 March 2025

Sheikh Faisal has three pillars that underpin his character: faith, fear of God, love of his country and Qatari society.
Qatar is distinguished from others in that its people are peaceful and love the good of all, he says.
When he was 10 years old, he received advice from a wealthy and influential man he met at a mosque. He told him, “Maintain your prayers.”

NT Bureau
Doha

The State of Qatar is distinguished from others in that its people are peaceful and love the good of all and they are people of generosity, toler ance, and giving, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani has said. “This has always been our nature and is considered a deep-rooted quality in the conscience of Qataris.

In addition to this, we enjoy security, which has kept crime rates at zero for many years,” Sheikh Faisal said, in a wide-ranging interview with Al Sharq daily conducted by Editor-in-Chief Jaber Al-Harmi, and editors Hassan Hamoush and Taha Abdel Rahman. The long interview spoke in detail about the life, business wisdom, and the huge experiences that shaped his life. Born in Doha in 1948, Sheikh Faisal is one of Qatar’s most successful businessmen and has played a significant role in the development of the business sector in Qatar.

“Sheikh Faisal has three pillars that underpin his character: faith, fear of God, love of his country and Qatari society, and humility toward people, far removed from all manifestations of luxury and extravagance,” Al Sharq report says in its introduction. He says that when he was 10 years old, he received advice from a wealthy and influential man he met at a mosque. He told him, “Maintain your prayers, for they are everlasting, and everything else is fleeting.” There fore, he adhered to prayers and maintained it.

His love for his country and Qatari society is deeply rooted in his soul and conscience, and he does not hesitate to do anything to serve the community. Humility is a behaviour he has been inculcated with since childhood,” the report says. “I lived under six rulers of Qatar and learned a lot from them, he said.

He used to attend the rulers’ councils with his father, learning more from them than he did in schools and universities. “My life started out very simple. My father was an orphan, which made him fear a lot for me. My father used to take me with him to meet the rulers of Qatar, in addition to attending many councils.

This attendance made me witness many discussions and dialogues taking place in these councils, during which I learned about the relationship between the rulers and the people. This matter strengthened my national belonging, as well as my belonging to my greater Arab home land.

All these stations, meetings and discussions contributed to enriching my great accumulation of knowledge,” he said. “What is striking is that despite the oil boom and the country’s wealth, the customs and habits of the Qataris have not changed. Their good qualities have remained among them, such as humility, mutual support, solidarity, equality, and other good qualities and characteristics, and they have remained in this state to this day, since they are from the homeland,” he said.

(To be continued)